Hearing You Say Love chapter 32

Circuit Breaker

Su Ming suspected that Zou Beiyuan was doing this on purpose.

He clearly knew that he couldn’t skate at all, yet he led him toward the center of the rink. With nowhere else to hold on to and scared of falling, Su Ming had no choice but to cling tightly to Zou Beiyuan.

In an awkward embrace, they slowly moved across the ice. Zou Beiyuan skated backward, leading Su Ming, who took small steps like two people trying to dance who didn’t know how.

A staff member, unable to bear watching any longer, pushed over a small penguin skating aid, reminding them that they could easily fall if they kept holding on to each other like that.

Reluctantly, Su Ming let go of Zou Beiyuan and held onto the penguin to skate by himself.

Because the rink wasn’t officially open yet, there were only a few people around, making the space feel vast and empty.

With his hands behind his back, Zou Beiyuan leisurely skated circles around Su Ming, his movements graceful, like a figure skater in the Winter Olympics.

In contrast, Su Ming looked like someone recovering from a leg injury.

Su Ming admired Zou Beiyuan’s skills, wishing he could skate freely on the ice without needing to hold onto something. So he reached out to Zou Beiyuan for help.

Only then did Coach Zou, who had been slacking off, seriously teach Su Ming how to skate.

After about half an hour of practice, Su Ming was able to skate without constantly holding onto Zou Beiyuan.

Zou Beiyuan stayed behind him, ready to catch him if he lost balance, gently supporting his waist to help him maintain stability.

This reminded Su Ming of when he learned to ride a bicycle as a child.

More than twenty years ago, he and Su Mo shared one bicycle. One year, their father took off the training wheels. When Su Mo was learning, their father would run behind, steadying the bike whenever Su Mo was about to fall.

But when it was Su Ming’s turn, he had to practice alone, riding the bike whenever Su Mo wasn’t using it. Without anyone to help, he fell many times, but eventually, he learned to balance on his own faster than Su Mo.

The knees he scraped that summer didn’t heal until autumn, leaving a faint scar.

After another half hour of skating, Su Ming felt a bit tired, so he and Zou Beiyuan stood by the edge of the rink to rest. Zou Beiyuan had him hold onto the railing for balance while he skated off to get a bottle of water from the front desk.

When he returned, Su Ming, unable to walk on the ice without help, was still obediently waiting in the same spot.

Zou Beiyuan stood in front of him, unscrewed the cap, and brought the bottle to Su Ming’s lips. Su Ming drank from his hand, then Zou Beiyuan took a couple of sips himself, drinking from the same spot Su Ming had.

As Zou Beiyuan drank, Su Ming unconsciously licked his own lips, watching the movement of Zou Beiyuan’s Adam’s apple.

After putting the cap back on and setting the bottle aside, Zou Beiyuan asked him, “Want to keep going?”

Before they had entered, they’d placed their phones in the lockers, and Su Ming instinctively tried to sign his response, forgetting he needed to hold onto the railing to stay balanced.

As soon as Su Ming let go, he immediately wobbled forward and backward unsteadily. This time, Zou Beiyuan didn’t support his waist but took advantage of the moment to pull him into his arms when he stumbled.

The small penguin used to assist skating had long disappeared, and they ended up skating a slow, awkward lap in that same uncomfortable hugging position. Both were sweating slightly by the time they left the ice rink.

….

On the way home, Su Ming used AI voice to chat with Zou Beiyuan, saying how busy this week was and how he still had to work overtime on sketching that night; otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to meet the deadline.

As Zou Beiyuan drove, he started imagining various scenes with the rabbit and the wolf, eager to see the next chapter. He sped up, eager to drop Su Ming off at home.

He couldn’t wait to find out what scenes of shared experiences between him and Su Ming would appear in the next chapter.

Once Su Ming got home, he first checked the timing of Zhao Shengpei’s sculpture exhibition online. It would start the day after tomorrow and last for a week. This solo exhibition was the first stop of a touring exhibition, with the next one moving to another city.

According to gossip from the college class group chat, Zhao Shengpei had been living in the capital since his divorce. All the marital property went to his ex-wife, and he left the marriage with nothing.

It was clear that Zhao Shengpei had made some mistake, as the divorce happened only two months ago, and now he was turning back to Su Ming.

The group chat was abuzz with how, although Zhao Shengpei didn’t get any money, the resources he obtained through the dean over the years were priceless. Now, still young, he was already one of the top sculptors in China, and the marital property seemed insignificant in comparison. He was bound to have both wealth and women in the future.

Su Ming really wanted to say, “He’s gay, he faked his marriage, and he’s a jerk!”

But instead, he just exited the group chat and deleted the chat history.

Many of his classmates knew that he and Zhao Shengpei had once been close, and maybe one or two knew that they had a falling out, where Su Ming had even slapped Zhao Shengpei, though the reason remained unclear.

Su Ming figured that within a week, Zhao Shengpei would leave. There shouldn’t be enough time for him to come after him again.

Moreover, he had made his refusal quite clear today. Zhao Shengpei had achieved success now and had no reason to persist in bothering a nobody like him.

Su Ming shared his analysis with Chen Muchao, but Chen Muchao simply told him to be careful and stay close to “Little Wolf” as much as possible.

Of course, Su Ming couldn’t expect Zou Beiyuan to be with him all the time—he had his own things to take care of.

….

The next afternoon, while painting at home, Su Ming heard the doorbell ring. Cautious, he checked his smart door camera on his phone and saw that it was a delivery person.

But he hadn’t ordered any delivery, so he decided to pretend that no one was home.

The delivery person soon left, and after checking the hallway, Su Ming didn’t notice anyone suspicious.

He shrugged it off and continued working until evening.

Just as it was getting dark, the power suddenly went out.

Thank goodness Su Ming had autosave enabled—losing an entire afternoon’s worth of sketches would’ve been a disaster!

His phone alerted him that it had disconnected from his home Wi-Fi, and he noticed that the Wi-Fi from Zou Beiyuan’s place was still available as his phone automatically connected to it.

Su Ming: …

Is it just my place that lost power?

Could it be a blown fuse?

He was about to open the door to check when he suddenly remembered scenes from horror movies where the protagonist opens the door in the dark only to encounter danger.

His hand withdrew from the doorknob, and instead, he messaged Zou Beiyuan: [Are you home?]

After a while, Zou Beiyuan replied: [I’m out with Xu Jiadi at the bar. What’s up?]

Su Ming typed: [The power suddenly went out in my place, but the neighbors still have electricity. I was hoping you could take a look.]

 Pausing, he deleted “I was hoping you could take a look” and replaced it with, [I’m a bit scared. Poor me.jpg]

Seeing the message, Zou Beiyuan glanced at his phone, stood up, and said, “Looks like that’s it for now. You guys keep going, I need to head out.”

Xu Jiadi pulled him back and said, “You’ve only been here for a few minutes, and now you’re leaving again? You’re really just going to slack off?”

“I’ve got something important to take care of,” Zou Beiyuan said, “You guys can make the decisions, and if you need money, let me know.”

Jiang Zufan laughed, “Let him go, let him go. As long as we have his word, that’s all that matters. These days, it’s hard to find investors who pay up and stay out of the way.”

Thinking about it, Xu Jiadi agreed and let him go.

Watching Zou Beiyuan leave, Jiang Zufan asked Xu Jiadi, “Is Beiyuan distracted because he’s dating someone?”

Xu Jiadi rolled his eyes, “He spends all day either training or hanging out with Su Ming. Dating my foot—he doesn’t even have a cat around, let alone a girl.”

By the time Zou Beiyuan returned to the apartment complex, it was completely dark. He parked the car and messaged Su Ming: [Is the power back yet? I’m downstairs.]

Su Ming: [No, still out. Crying face.jpg]

Zou Beiyuan: [I’ll be right up.]

The elevator was still working, and the hallway lights were on. When he reached Su Ming’s floor, he went straight to the electrical meter box. The meters for all twelve apartments were here, and Su Ming’s was the only one with a dark screen.

Instead of directly resetting the circuit breaker, Zou Beiyuan walked to unit 1602 and knocked on Su Ming’s door..

In the ten or so seconds it took for Su Ming to open the door, he heard footsteps coming from the fire escape. He was about to check when Su Ming opened the door.

Su Ming wasn’t wearing his glasses, and his hair was a bit messy. He lazily leaned against the entrance cabinet, squinting slightly in the hallway light as if he hadn’t fully woken up.

Zou Beiyuan loved this sleepy, vulnerable look on him—it made him seem easy to tease. Grinning down at him, he asked, “You’re scared of the dark at your age?”

Su Ming nodded, looking pitiful, and stepped aside to let Zou Beiyuan in.

“I saw that your circuit is the issue,” Zou Beiyuan said, “I’ll call the property management to take a look.”

Su Ming had thought about contacting the property management himself, and in the past, he would’ve asked Chen Muchao to help. But today, since Zou Beiyuan was there, he decided to let him handle everything.

While Zou Beiyuan made the call, Su Ming returned to the sofa, slumping back tiredly.

The city lights shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows, making the living room not entirely dark.

Zou Beiyuan noticed the ashtray on the desk was filled with cigarette butts, and the room had a strong smell of tobacco. He guessed Su Ming must have been drawing all day again.

Su Ming wasn’t someone heavily dependent on cigarettes. He knew Zou Beiyuan didn’t smoke, so when they were alone together, he usually refrained from smoking as well. However, after long hours of work, he would sometimes sneak off for a quick cigarette. But when he was immersed in his art, he would smoke like a chimney.

Zou Beiyuan had grown accustomed to Su Ming’s scent, and over time, he had developed a fondness for the blend of cigarette smoke mixed with citrus fragrance.

The property management soon sent an electrician. After checking everything, they didn’t find any short circuits or other issues.

Once the circuit breaker was reset, everything in the apartment returned to normal.

Su Ming told Zou Beiyuan about the strange delivery person earlier in the day. Zou Beiyuan told him not to worry about it, saying that it wasn’t uncommon for delivery people to get the wrong floor, but advised him not to open the door next time too.

Living alone, especially without being able to speak, posed many risks. The thought of Su Ming being unable to even call for help in an emergency made Zou Beiyuan anxious, and he almost wanted to station bodyguards outside Su Ming’s door 24/7.

But outwardly, he remained calm and reassured him for a while.

Not long after, Zou Beiyuan said he had to go out again for something.

Su Ming asked what it was.,

Zou Beiyuan teased him, lowering his voice: “Don’t want me to leave?”

Su Ming nodded.

Zou Beiyuan asked why.

After thinking for a moment, Su Ming pretended to be pitiful and said he was scared.

Zou Beiyuan asked, “Do you want to sleep at my place tonight?”